NYSTCE Study Guide

The New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSTCE) offered by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the National Evaluation Systems (NES) examines a candidate’s core abilities, knowledge and skills before granting them certification to teach in New York public schools. The candidates must achieve scores that meet the requirements of New York legislative standards for academic certification.

The NYSTCE are objective based tests, meaning they seek to measure the candidate’s knowledge or skills in relation to a given topic. This could be history, physical education, or superintendent roles. There are different versions of the NYSTCE to suit the needs of various departments. For instance, there is the Assessment of Teaching Assistant Skills (ATAS) that measures a candidate’s reading, writing, and math skills.

There are more specific skill tests like the following:

* Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST)
* Elementary Assessment of Teaching Skills – Written (ATS-W)
* Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills – Written (ATS-W)
* Content Specialty Tests (CSTs)
* Bilingual Education Assessments (BEAs)
* Communication and Quantitative Skills Tests (CQST)
* Assessment of Teaching Skills – Performance (ATS-P)

Many of these skills and knowledge tests consist of multiple choice questions, with some requiring written response answers or constructed-response answers. The ATS-P actually has the candidate submit a 20 to 30 minute video of them teaching in a classroom setting.

The CSTs cost $88, the BEA $88, and the LAST $88. The ATS-P costs $145, but all others are either $88 or cheaper. The tests can be taken at many places across the state of New York.

Recommended NYSTCE Study Guide:

NYSTCE Study Guide

NYSTCE Flashcards